It's Only Forever (Not Long At All)
by Charmice
Summary: So Stiles is Persephone and Derek is Hades and Laura is just awesome.


Stiles slowly opened his eyes and instantly regretted it. The unforgiving sunlight streamed through the trees, which of course shaded everything but his face. He squinted against the warm yellow light. Oh well, he supposed it was time to get up from his nap anyway. His mother would be looking for him. He laid there for a little while longer, listening to the rustling of the trees and the chirping and buzzing of the forest creatures. He heard a nymph giggle a little ways to his left, no doubt spying on him with her friends.

He stretched and got up from the soft grass that he was sleeping on a moment before. He started lazily walking through the peaceful woods toward the meadow where his mother frequented in the late summer. He picked a few flowers on the way, knowing that if he was late she would forgive him the moment she saw her favorite flowers in his hand. In only a matter of minutes, Stiles was nearing the meadow. He could hear his mother humming to herself, no doubt working on creating a new plant that she could make abundant on Earth for her darling humans to enjoy. She did like to dote on them, especially the ones who had an affinity for gardening.

Stiles enjoyed tagging along when his mother stopped by a gardener's or farmer's house, in disguise of course, to give them advice on the upcoming season and what was best to plant and how to care for the crops. He loved to see her in her element, helping out the mortals and giving some of the more stubborn plants an extra push to grow when the humans had their backs turned. Doing this occupied her mind and kept her busy; it helped her not be so lonely, since his father was always away dealing with business on Olympus. Most days it was just her and Stiles.

Stiles shadowed his father one day at Olympus and he never wanted to go back. He found the politics of Olympus boring and trite. They were always fighting over the same things, and Melissa was constantly in a melancholy mood ever since her only son, Scott, decided to leave Olympus for a while. She always brightened when she saw Stiles, though.

As the humming grew louder, something caught Stiles' attention out the corner of his eye. It was a flower. It was definitely one of the more beautiful flowers Stiles had seen in his lifetime, although he was still fairly young. He thought that he was in a good position to judge, though. He _had _seen a lot of flowers. His mother had definitely outdone herself once again, and the _smell_. Oh gods, Stiles would _absolutely die_ for that smell. He tried to pick a particular scent out, to put a name to it, but it was impossible. It was like trying to describe what the water from the trickling river where the nymphs swam tasted like. It flooded his mind, his senses; he wanted that flower more than anything he had ever wanted in his life.

It did not occur to him that if his mother did indeed create the flower, there should be more in the meadow where she was currently singing. But it was just that lone flower, sitting there, slightly swaying in the breeze. All he could think about was getting his sun-tanned hands on that flower right then. Changing directions completely, still fully entranced on the flower, he started making his way over the vines and forest underbrush to where the flower was growing.

The flower itself wasn't very big, but man, was it beautiful. He was definitely his mother's child, he thought, if he was this obsessed with a flower. The flower was a deep maroon, almost black in the now-waning sunlight. In the middle of the flower and in lines down the petal, there was what seemed like a dusting of blue-gray powder, and the center of the flower held what looked to be shriveled pomegranate seeds. Stiles leaned down and inhaled the fragrance of the plant, closing his eyes in satisfaction after the smell permeated his senses.

"Stiles?" Claudia called out. "Stiles, honey, I know you're there. I have the most beautiful flower to show you. It took me forever, of course, but don't they all?"

"Mother, you have really outdone yourself." Stiles wished he could create something this beautiful.

"But you haven't even seen it yet!" She laughed, causing the trees above him to sway, as if laughing with her.

"It's right here!" He called back, his eyes never leaving the plant. "And it really is something. Where did you even think to come up with this smell? It's amazing! I could lay here and smell it all day every day. I have to show Allison and Erica, they would flip over this thing! Maybe Allison can use it in her and Scott's bond-renewal ceremony and then I'd have best-friend-in-law brownie points forever… " Stiles mumbled this last part to himself more than to his mother.

He heard his mother start toward him. "Stiles? What smell? I haven't created one yet for this flower yet, you must be….." She stopped when she saw the flower that had her only son fixated. "Stiles, don't touch that."

"But why? It's perfect. Like you could ever make something that isn't." He scoffed, slightly jealous. Every time he tried to make a flower on his own it ended up horribly – either the petals were deformed or the smell was horrible or the plant wouldn't sprout roots. Stiles reached down to pluck the perfect flower from the dark soil. "Can you teach me how to make it?" He asked. His mother always knew how to help Stiles create a flower.

"Stiles! Don't touch it!"

It was too late, but that's the way things usually go.

The last thing Stiles remembered was the velvety feeling of the stem between his fingertips, the thorn that pricked his thumb, and his mother yelling for him as a quiet darkness firmly tugged him under.


End file.
